Vending machines



Feb. 10, 1959 E. J. Lux 2,873,012

' VENDING MACHINES Filed April 1, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.7'.

INVENTOR.

Eugene J.Lux

United States Patent '0 This invention relates to vending machines, and more particularly to a type adapted for dispensing relatively long, slender articles, such as pencils, pens and possibly many other articles of generally similar nature.

It is an object of the invention to provide asimple,

trouble-free mechanism of sturdy construction which shall be coin-controlled and which will successively dispense the pencils or other objects by manipulation of a lever. It is an object of the invention to provide, in a machine of this character, means for preventing jamming or clogging of the pencils and to provide for smooth dispensing operation.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claim appended hereto. 1

In the accompanying drawings, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through a vending machine constructed according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail view, showing the coin return means which is effective when the machine is depleted of its merchandise;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 1, of a portion of the machine, showing the parts in dispensing position;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the dispenser;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4, looking in the direction of the arrows;

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view through the dispenser; and

parts of the casing shown in section to disclose construc tionalfeatures.

The machine includes a casing or housing generally indicated at 1, and contained within the casing, and possibly formed by some of the walls thereof, is a hopper;

3 within which the pencils 4 or other articles to be vented, are contained. The hopper includes a back wall 2, suitable side walls, a front wall 3a, and a slanting or sloping bottom wall 5.

The pencils 4 contained in the hopper, tend to move down the sloping bottom 5 thereof toward the lower or outlet end 6 of the hopper and there descend in a single line into a sleeve 7, constituting the dispenser of the machine. The dispenser 7 is shown in detail in Figs/4 to 6 inclusive, wherein it will be noted that the same is in the form of an elongated sleeve having an internal length and width sufficient to accommodate the pencils to be vended and in superimposed position in a single line, as shown in Fig. l.

The dispenser or sleeve 7 is composed of a front wall 9 and a rear wall 8, these walls being maintained in spaced relation by the attached flanges 9a and 10 at their opposite ends. At its upper end, the front wall 8 is pivotally connected, by a lengthy hinge of the so-called piano type, shown at 11, to the lower end of the 2,873,012 Patented Feb. 10, 1959 bottom wall 5 of the hopper. This hinged connection of the dispenser at the outlet end 6 of the hopper, permits the dispenser 7 to be pivotally swung back and forth between its normal or rest position of Fig. 1 and its dis- 5 pensing position of Fig. 3. Located substantially centrally on the front wall 9 of the dispenser 7 and projecting therefrom is a lug, shown at 12, and pivotally attached at 13 to one end of a link 14, which has its opposite end pivotally connected at 15 to the lower end of a '10 hand lever 16. Said lever 16 is suitably guided for vertical movement, and is provided at its upper end with an ofi-set portion 17 guided in a slot 18 in the front wall 19 of the casing or cabinet in which the vending mechanism is housed. The off-set portion 17 terminates in a 5 ball or knob 20 for hand engagement to enable the lever 16 to be manually depressed to vending. position as seen in Fig. 3. A spring 21 has one end attached at 22 to lever 16 and its other end attached at 23, and the spring tends to elevate the lever 16 upon the release of manual 20 pressure on the knob or ball 20. 'This arrangement is such that upon the lever 16 being depressed it will swing the dispenser 7 from its normal or rest position shown in Fig. l to its dispensing position shown in Fig. 3.

fThe front wall 9 of the dispenser is longer than the terminating above the lower edge of the rear wall, to.

thereby provide an outlet slot 25 through which successive pencils can emerge each time that the dispenser assumes the tilted or inclined position of Fig. 3. This slot opening 25 is slightly less in width than the diameter of the pencils so that when the dispenser is in its normal or rest position of Fig. 1, the lowermost pencil, indicated at 4a, cannot pass through the outlet slot 25. However, when the dispenser 7 is tilted or inclined as shown in Fig. 3, the lowermost pencil 4a can then pass through the slot outlet 25 and the lower portion of the front wall 9 will move the pencil 4a along on the support 27 to reach the opening 28 therein and through which the pencil will fall to descend on the chute 29 to reach the forward end 30 thereof to be claimed by the purchaser.

When the dispenser 7 is in its normal or rest position, as shown in Fig. 1, its lower end is closed by the supporting plate 27 which at that time acts to support the stack of pencils contained in the dispenser. When the dispenser is swung to its dispensing or tilted position Fig. 7 is a front elevational view of the machine with shown in Fig. 3, a stationary flange 31, secured on a wall of the housing or otherwise fixed in the proper position, enters under the lower edge 24 of the rear plate 8 of the dispenser and takes under the stack of pencils, .50 just above the lowermost pencil or that which falls In order to prevent the uninterrupted delivery of pencils 7 and to prevent the pencils from jamming or wedging together, two pairs of cams are carried by the dispenser. Those attached to the front wall are indicated at 33 and those attached to the rear wall are shown at 34. v The wall 3a of the housing or casing is slotted, as shown ,at 35 (Fig. 7) to permit the passage of the cams 33 and enable said cams to enter into the hopper and contact with the lower end portion of a plate 36, pivoted at its upper end as shown at 37, to the wall 3a. This plate 36 normally lies parallel to the wall 3a, but as the cams 33 move in and out, they swing the plate on its pivot 37, lining up the pencils in the hopper just before they enter the outlet 6 and the upper end of the dispenser 7. The cams 34 enter the hopper through slots 38 in the bottom wall of the hopper and this set of cams also aids in the lining up of the pencils. The two pairs of cams operate oppositely. That is to say, when the cams 33 enter into the'hopper as the dispenser comes into its rest position, the cams 34 are moved out of the hopper, and when the dispenser is moved to dispensing position cams 34 will en'terthe hopper while the cams 33 will be moved out of the same.

Mounted on the wall 3a is a deflector plate 40 which is operative to deflect the pressure of the load of pencils from the plate 36.

When the machine is depleted of its contents, means are provided by which coins deposited will be returned to the purchaser. Such means is shown in Figs. 2 and 7. Therein, a conventionalcoin chute and coin'rejector, generally indicated at 41 is used. A rod 42 is pivoted at 43 to a'wallbr other stationary element of the casing, and is biased by the spring 44 in 'a manner to tend to cause its lower tip or extremity 45 to enter into the dispenser through an aperture 46 provided in the front wall of the same. As long as pencils are located in the dispenser, the tip or extremity 45 cannot enter, and a tip or opposite extremity 46a cannot enter the coin chute 47.

However, when the dispenser is depleted of pencils, tip 45 mayenter the dispenser and thus cause a pivotal movement-of the rod 42 in a manner to cause its upper end 46a to enter the coin chute to direct coins in a manner to return them to the customer. This same result occurs if the machine is-out of order and for some reason the hopper does not return from dispensing to rest position.

The means for preventing operation of the machine when a coin is not deposited, is shown in Fig.7. Therein is shown a coin-support 50 on which a deposited coin shown at 51 comes to rest and is positioned between the coin-support 50 and a shoulder 52 on a pivoted arm 53. Saidarm 53 ispivotally mounted at 54 on a bar 55 secured to the manually-operated lever 16. The arm 53 is springbiased by coil spring 56 to the position shown in Fig. 7. When the lever 16 is depressed and no coin is in position on the coin support 50, the arm 53, being maintained in the position shown in Fig. 7 by its spring 56, will have its lower end brought into contact with a fixed stop 57 and will thus be prevented from descending to an extent to cause sufiicient swing of the dispenser 7 to eject a pencil. When a coin is in the position shown at 51 in Fig. 7., the descent of the arm 53 will cause the arm to contact the coin in a manner to cause the arm 53 to be pivoted toward the left and be thus enabled to pass the stop 57 and continue its downward movement, with the coin caused to descend into a suitably positioned coin receptacle.

From the'foregoing the operation of the improved vending machine will be apparent. When a coin is deposited, it'will pass down the-conventional coin chute to be passed through a standard coin ejector to 'arrive in position.

against the coin rest 50 'as shown in Fig. '7. Lever 16 may now be moved downwardly, since the coin 51 will cause the arm 53 to pivot to a position where it can be moved downwardly past the stop '57. As the lever 16 is manually moved downwardly it will swing the dispenser 7 to the position shown in Fig. 3 and the lowermost pencil indicated at 4a will be moved under the flange or cut-off plate 31; will descend through the aperture 28 to reach the chute 29 below the same and roll down to the'forward end 30'to be claimed by the purchaser. As the dispenser is pivotally moved to the dispensing position, the flange or cut-01f plate 31 will move into the lower part of the dispenser and engage under the pencils above that which has been dispensed and restrain them from downward descent. Upon release of manual pressure on the lever 16, the same will rise under the impulse of spring 21 to return the dispenser to its vertical position of rest shown in Fig. 1.

If a coin is not deposited in the machine, the lever 16 cannot be moved downwardly because of the stop 57 and parts operating in connection therewith as previously described, and if no pencils are in the machine, or if the dispenser becomes jammed in -its dispensing position, the rod 42 will become effective to direct 'coins into a return chute.

For the purpose of simplicity in illustration, the structure of the cabinet or housing and other parts are shown generally rather than specifically since variations thereof are possible without departing from the spirit of the in vention. Also while I have herein referred to the goods being dispensed as pencils, it will be apparent that many other articles may well be dispensed by the described apparatus. Therefore, when herein referring to the dis- .pensed goods as pencils I wish to be understood as meaning any other goods or articles which might be handledbythe claimed apparatus.

Having'thus described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, 'butis broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claim.

What I claim is:

A vending machine for pencils and similar articles comprising, a hopper for holding the articles, a spout pivoted at the outlet end of the hopper and holding a plurality of the articles in superimposed, stacked relation, sai'd'spout having an open lower end and a rear wall provided with an aperture in its lower end for the passage "of one of "the articles, said rear opening being of a size to permit passage of a pencil through it only when the spout is inan inclined position, a support located below the spout for retaining the stack of articles therein while said spout is in a predetermined vertical position of rest, manually-operated means for swingably moving the spout to an inclined'dispensing position and causing the lowermost pencil therein to be moved through the aperture in the rear wall of the spout, said support having an aperture through which the lowermost article in the spout will fall when the spout 'is pivotally moved to said inclined position, a fixed cut-off member entering through the aperture in the rear wall of the spout when the spout is moved to 'its inclined position, thereby to hold back articles in the spout other than the dispensed lowermost one, a coin chute for positioning a coin to render operable -said manually-operated means, coin-blocking means for -the chute, said coin-blocking means being positioned to hold a blocked position in the chute While no articles are located in the spout or when the spout is in said inclined dispensing position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

